Surgical microscopes frequently have a plurality of observation beam paths, allowing the surgical field to be viewed both by the surgeon and an assistant, for example, and also to be made available to an image capture system, such as a camera. The camera is used to display the surgical field on a video screen and/or to document the surgery. When using the microscope and its features, such as XY adjustment, zoom adjustment, release of the brakes in the articulated arms, or as a result of external vibrations caused, for example, by passing vehicles or air conditioning systems having inadequate vibration isolation, the microscope may be caused to vibrate, resulting in a visible unsteadiness of the captured microscope image. These vibrations should be minimized, or preferably completely avoided.
German Patent Application DE 103 06 440 A1, for example, describes a stand having an Actively Reacting Flexible Structure (so called ARES) component for damping vibrations. In this approach, actuators are driven in response to detected vibrations in such a way that the microscope remains substantially steady. A similar system is known from in DE 4 342 717 B4.
In the field of still cameras, image stabilization devices are known where the optoelectronic image sensor is mounted in a special holder, which is provided with actuators for moving the sensor in the XY plane (image plane) to compensate for vibrations.
In prior art approaches, besides an acceleration-sensing system, it is also necessary to use components for moving the respective elements, such as lenses, sensors, mechanisms, etc., by means of actuators, control elements, motors, transmissions, etc. This requires a high degree of complexity and positioning accuracy and a large amount of space, and the inertia involved is too high for some vibrations.
It is, therefore, desirable to provide an image stabilization device for an image capture system of a surgical microscope, which device is particularly space-efficient and preferably has a quick response time.